This column is the last in which I will address you as president of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). Over the past four years I have very much enjoyed informing Archaeology readers about the Institute's programs and initiatives.

It is now my great pleasure to introduce my successor, C. Brian Rose, who takes the helm this year. Rose has worked hard for the AIA and archaeology as Cedric G. Boulter Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cincinnati and now James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Rose first got the archaeology "bug" when he went to Italy as a 16-year-old exchange student under the auspices of the American Field Service. There he was sent to work on excavations at the Etruscan city of Cerveteri for the summer, rather than stay with a family. "I was desperate to get out of southeastern Ohio," says Rose. "One had to agree in advance that one was willing to go to any country in the world, and that was just fine with me." He later received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and excavated at Aphrodisias in Turkey and at Troy, where he was the head of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine excavations beginning in 1988. He currently directs the Granicus Valley Regional Archaeology Survey Project in Turkey.

Among his many accomplishments within the AIA, Rose conceived of and implemented our program of lecturing on archaeology to American troops en route to Iraq and Afghanistan ("Tell It to the Marines," November/December 2005). He has recently been working with German and Polish authorities to expand the program to their troops in Afghanistan. Rose has also been active in educating the public and his professional colleagues on the plight of archaeology in those war-torn countries. He has organized interdepartmental gatherings on Iraq and Afghanistan at the University of Cincinnati, as well as a major symposium on archaeology in Afghanistan at the University of Pennsylvania. Together, we organized a plenary session at the 2004 AIA annual meeting on "The Cultural Costs of Waging War."

C. Brian Rose's leadership, energy, stature as a scholar and archaeologist, and above all, his commitment to the AIA make him the right choice to lead the organization. In the future, he says, "I want to continue to reach out to the military, and I want to continue to focus on getting archaeology into primary and secondary schools." I am pleased to pass the torch to him. I leave the organization in good hands.

Jane C. Waldbaum is the president of the Archaeological Institute of America.